On a sunny Thursday evening, we got our coffees and sat down with Pankaj Patil, Director, to learn more about his experiences across the energy, maritime, and transportation sectors. With nearly 15 years of experience at the intersection of policy, finance, and operations, Pankaj brings deep practical insights and sector expertise to Karp Strategies. His experience spans an impressive range of sustainable infrastructure initiatives across North America, Europe, and Asia, such as energy storage, charging infrastructure, green hydrogen, shipping, and ports.
In this conversation, Pankaj talks about his work before Karp Strategies and what he is most excited to continue with as part of the team. He delves into the importance of ports and maritime infrastructure, as well as the need for stakeholder engagement to support a just transition and equitable economic growth in such projects. Furthermore, he discusses the next frontier for the global energy sector and about his banana pudding, which rivals Magnolia Bakery’s. Keep reading to learn more!
How do you like your coffee?
The best way I like coffee is sprinkled on tiramisu, as I’m not a big coffee drinker. I do love a good, homemade masala chai though, preferably made by me.
How did your career lead to you working at Karp Strategies?
I've been working in the energy, maritime, and infrastructure space for nearly 15 years. I started my career as an engineer and later transitioned into finance, giving me a comprehensive sense of how infrastructure projects are conceived, financed, and implemented. Over the past 7–8 years, I shifted my focus toward policy, which helped me understand the broader economic and community impacts of infrastructure development.
What drew me to Karp Strategies is the unique way we approach this work. Infrastructure will continue to be built – with or without us – but what sets Karp Strategies apart and the way we bring value is by making these projects more inclusive, equitable, and socially impactful. Our emphasis on stakeholder engagement, data-driven impact analysis, and equity-focused planning ensures that the projects we support are not only commercially and technically sound but also contribute meaningfully to building resilient, inclusive communities. I was really inspired by the mission and the work Karp Strategies was doing, and I knew I wanted to be part of a team that was shaping infrastructure in a way that truly benefits people.
What are you most excited about working at Karp Strategies, especially within the energy sector?
A robust social and physical infrastructure is foundational to any economy’s development. What excites me most about working at Karp Strategies is the opportunity to help ensure that infrastructure projects, especially in the energy and maritime sectors, truly deliver on their intended outcomes. Too often, promising initiatives face delays or resistance not because of technical issues, but because stakeholder perspectives were not integrated early enough. At Karp Strategies, we focus on inclusive engagement that is thoughtfully designed to support delivery, reduce risk, and strengthen outcomes.
My approach is grounded in hands-on experience of working closely with project developers and owners, investors, as well as the public entities. I have spent time on site at ports and worked at a battery energy storage startup, liaising with policy makers and community organizations while working on projects. Infrastructure projects face delays and suffer cost overruns, significantly hurting their commercial viability. Therefore, I understand the importance of the timely delivery of projects to the owners. This is all the more critical in a highly dynamic and evolving clean-energy space where technologies evolve so fast and projects can become irrelevant if the timeframes are not met. This has been a major concern of investors when they conduct their pre-investment due diligence. Therefore, sometimes an activity that is merely seen as a formality or compliance requirement can have a significant impact on the project outcome.
At Karp Strategies, I’m able to bring this project owner, developer, and investor's perspective to work closely with clients to align stakeholder strategies with business goals.
One example where this stakeholder-informed approach has been particularly effective is with a complex urban housing project in Brooklyn that our team is currently working on. While we were not part of the project’s earlier phases, we are helping the developers and public agency build the programs that will shape an equitable path forward by integrating longstanding community goals into the overall project strategy. This has been an incredibly satisfying experience.
I’ve also worked internationally on the electrification of maritime transportation, including projects in Norway, India, and Singapore. Electrification and automation can pose risks to certain jobs, especially if they’re not trained in new technologies. Also, some business owners can feel threatened by this. Therefore, in many places, there’s understandable resistance to change. Through careful stakeholder engagement, we’ve been able to surface those concerns and begin designing pathways, like workforce development and skilling, and support to small business owners to ensure no one is left behind. That’s the kind of impact I’m excited to continue bringing to my work here.
Tell us more about this - what has a just transition in the green economy looked like in your past work?
Much of my work in the energy transition and green economy has focused on the electrification of transportation—both road and maritime—and ensuring that these transitions are not only environmentally effective but also socially just and economically sound. I’ve been involved in efforts to develop electric vehicle infrastructure for road transport as well as electrifying shipping, particularly coastal shipping, which has a large role to play in reducing emissions from freight transport. This is particularly relevant in coastal urban centers from New York to Shanghai and Mumbai to Miami. Government agencies are working on policies that encourage the development of more resilient and sustainable infrastructure and funnel finance into these projects. Private firms and financial institutions are concerned about the perceived risks involved in these projects related to climate and local communities. Karp Strategies understands these complexities in project delivery - balancing cost and timelines to navigate regulatory requirements and compliance. Our role is to bridge these priorities by designing engagement and benefit strategies that effectively blend operational realities and community needs. Also, we help in identifying priority areas for a project and address them to prevent challenges cropping up during the implementation and operational phase.
A key example is my involvement in projects supported by the World Bank and Norway in Asia, where we worked on the transition to electric coastal shipping. These projects had significant environmental goals, like reducing emissions from shipping. But they also raised concerns from local stakeholders, especially around job security and economic displacement. The shipping sector supports many livelihoods, and any transition that includes automation and new technology also carries the risk of job loss for those not trained in the new systems. In the same manner, energy transition pathways are different for different sections of society.
That’s where a just transition comes in. In those projects, we spent time engaging directly with stakeholders, listening to their concerns, and helping design programs to support workforce re-skilling, up-skilling, and economic inclusion. This helps not only local communities but also the companies delivering, owning, and operating the projects. At Karp Strategies, I continue this work through projects like NYCEDC’s Marine Highways (Blue Highways) initiative, which aims to shift cargo transport from roadways to the waterways, contributing to decarbonization of transportation, reducing traffic congestion, and making our cities more livable. I’m involved in another project where we are collaborating with BESS developers and owners for NYSERDA’s Index Storage Credit Solicitation to support the successful delivery of energy storage projects across New York State.
Renewable energy is one of the most discussed sectors both nationally and internationally. What are your thoughts on the industry and its evolution?
This is a topic that’s very close to my heart. If you look across history, no country has significantly improved the standard of living for its people without significantly increasing its energy consumption. That trend will continue: energy is foundational to economic growth and quality of life. What’s changing now is how we generate, manage, and consume that energy.
The future of energy won’t be dominated by a single source. Instead, we’ll rely on a diverse mix: solar, wind, hydro, nuclear, along with traditional sources. Over the past decade, we’ve made remarkable strides in scaling wind and solar capacity. But looking ahead, I believe the next frontier is energy storage. For the next three to five years, the focus will be on developing utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS), which are essential for stabilizing power grids and ensuring the reliability of energy supply across markets.
I'm also increasingly optimistic about the role of nuclear energy. While there are political and social sensitivities around the sector, we’re seeing growing support for nuclear as a clean, stable source of power around the world. With advancements in next-generation small-modular reactor technology, I think we’ll see more projects in that space five years from now.
Ports are one of the most important pieces of infrastructure in our globalized world, yet consistently not recognized as such. Why do you think ports are so important, and what work do you get to do related to ports at Karp Strategies?
Ports have always played a critical role in human development, even if that role often goes unrecognized. Throughout history, most major cities, and certainly many global financial capitals, have grown around ports. Yet despite their importance, maritime history is rarely given the attention it deserves. It may not be as glamorous as some other sectors, but ports are foundational to international trade, supply chains, and the economic resilience of countries.
Today, digitalization and sustainability are the two main drivers of transformation happening in the ports sector. We’re seeing the adoption of automation, use of advanced technologies to modernize operations, and increasing pressure to decarbonize and grow sustainably. The shipping industry is also one of the most polluting industries globally, which makes decarbonization and climate adaptation urgent priorities. This directly affects the ports as well. Therefore, across the U.S. and other countries, major port authorities are launching initiatives to audit their assets, assess the vulnerability level, and plan projects accordingly.
At Karp Strategies, we have worked closely with ports in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey to support these kinds of transitions. Some of our work focuses on helping ports diversify their operations and identify new revenue streams, apart from traditional industries like commercial fishing. We have partnered with port authorities, operators, and industry stakeholders to support the development of emerging industries such as offshore wind. Additionally, we are involved in several projects aimed at helping early-stage technology companies bring their innovations to market. We also support resilience initiatives: ensuring ports are prepared to withstand and adapt to the impacts of climate change. In that sense, we are well-positioned to support ports and maritime infrastructure with some of their biggest priorities today.
Throughout your work with ports, what has been the most interesting experience that you have had?
I’ve had the opportunity to visit and work with ports across the world, from Singapore and Shanghai to New York, and one consistent observation stands out - the increasing focus on the blue economy and the formation of maritime/ ocean clusters. The most interesting aspect for me is seeing how ports are not just gateways for goods, but are central to local economies, job creation, and innovation ecosystems.
What’s particularly compelling is how deeply integrated some maritime clusters are with their surrounding communities. I’ve seen this firsthand in places like Norway, where even in small towns, the port and maritime industry are not something distant or external—they’re embedded in everyday life. The local economy, workforce, and even culture are closely tied to port activity.
As ports modernize and the blue economy evolves, the big questions are: How do we sustainably harness ocean and marine resources? How do we prepare our workforce for the jobs of tomorrow? And how can we support local startups and small businesses to be part of this transformation? At Karp Strategies, these are exactly the kinds of questions we’re helping communities and port authorities answer—especially as we anticipate significant shifts in the next two to five years.
What has been your most memorable site visit and why?
I was fascinated by the Port of Rotterdam, especially how they had an impressive range of operations within a relatively small area of about 120 Sq. Km. The amount of cargo they handle, their contribution to economic activity, and their seamless integration with local industries, like tourism, fishing, and with communities, is truly fascinating.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I love to cook a lot, and that’s what I do on weekends. Some of my favorite things to make are gaajar ka halwa (carrot pudding), banana pudding – I believe my version rivals that of Magnolia Bakery, and of course, tiramisu.
Fast Facts
Last TV show I binge-watched: Chef’s Table
Restaurant (delivery) I’d recommend to close friends: It’s hard to pick a single spot, but I love getting pizza with friends at Adrienne’s Pizzabar in the Financial District.
Best concert I’ve ever experienced: Zubin Mehta conducting the Munich Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall. We are both from Mumbai.
Book that changed me: I read a lot of books on philosophy and political science, but if I had to pick one, it would be “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius.
Favorite course in graduate school: Macro-economics!
Movies I’d pay to see again and again: A Beautiful Mind and Troy
My heroes are: Three people - Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the person who inspired me to pursue graduate studies at Columbia University; Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and the person who coined the term “sustainable development”; and FDR for leading the U.S. and the world during a turbulent time with vision and strength.
